Neighbors from HellReview

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Not great, but not so bad, either.

By Tal Blevins

Let's face it...PC game developers like to play it safe. So safe, in fact, that it's rare to find a genre on the PC that hasn't been overdone. Shooters are more abundant than a rabbits at a Viagra-laced bunny ranch, and you can't walk into a software store without 20 RTS titles falling off the shelf onto your baby-soft head. However, one genre we haven't seen inundated with too many titles is the puzzle genre...probably because it takes some brains and a creative mind to come up with a good puzzle game. All those half-ass rip-offs of Tetris don't count. Hatris?!? Alexey, what were you thinking?!?).

This is where Neighbors from Hell steps into the picture. This new puzzler from Jowood plays kind of like Spy vs. Spy meets The Incredible Machine with a dash of Little Computer People and Lemmings thrown in. It owes a lot of allegiance to other games, but Neighbors from Hell is a unique experience unto itself.

You play as Woody, a shrewd prankster starring in a new reality show pitting him against his hairy, rotund, mother-loving neighbor. Seeing as how this is a television show, your main object is to keep the ratings high -- and what better way to do that than by torturing your neighbor in every room in his house? Plug up his toilet with the toilet paper roll. Put an egg in the microwave and watch it explode. Put stinky cheese in his favorite flowering plant...you know, the one he likes to sniff every time he passes it. These are the kinds of tricks and traps you'll be setting for your unsuspecting neighbor, all while trying to avoid being seen as he wanders from room to room.

The neighbor's house is filled with various items to use in painful situations where hilarity is sure to ensue -- you just have to find them first. Then all that's left is to figure out what to they can be best used for. TV viewers are finicky, and they want to see action, action, action. If your neighbor doesn't have explosive diarrhea or isn't being shocked to near death, the viewers won't be watching. And not only is it important what items you use and where you use then, but when you use them as well. The more pranks you can set up in a row the higher the ratings, so you have to think about the grand plan of how everything is going to play out and make sure you have enough time to pull it off before you're discovered.

As you can tell by the screenshots, the game has a claymation visual style similar to Wallace and Grommit. The backgrounds are all pre-rendered, so don't expect any dynamic shadows or fancy environmental effect, but the game's graphic are charming, and the quirky character models and backgrounds really add to the style and pizzazz of the game. Animations are also a bit rough and choppy, but certainly forgivable in a game like this that doesn't stress fast action.

The entire game is accompanied by a funky, although repetitive (there are only a few tunes), soundtrack and a few canned sound effects. Don't expect surround sound or any fancy audio effects, but it's a passable experience that gets the job done.

The gameplay is interesting and entertaining, the graphics are cute and the sound is decent, but Neighbors from Hell does have a few problems. The biggest downfall of the game is its brevity. Even though each season is a little more difficult and complicated to complete than the last, the game is extremely easy overall. Experienced gamers will be able to complete the entire game in about three hours, and even casual gamers will get through the entire game in under five hours without many snags. However, even though it is short, it's addictive as well, and I found myself going back in for more to try and increase my viewer ratings in some previously-played episodes.

The Verdict

Overall, Neighbors from Hell is an amusing puzzle game with some interesting twists. It's not very long and it's not very difficult, but it is charming and addictively entertaining, and definitely worth a look in the bargain bin if you're into puzzle games.